Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,236 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $25,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Maxim Group dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 7.7 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $34.07 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of -34.07 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.64 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD.